£25k fine but no points deduction for Elgin after Rangers ticket saga

Graham Tatters, chairman of Elgin City. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA

CRAIG P STEWART

ELGIN City have been hit with a £25,000 fine by the Scottish Football League after the cancellation of Sunday’s Third Division game against Rangers, with the Moray club also ordered to pay compensation to the Ibrox side.

Charity will, however, be a winner with £5,000 of the fine being handed over to a good cause chosen by Rangers.

The game, which was due to kick off at noon and be broadcast by ESPN, was called off on safety grounds on Friday evening when it was discovered that more than 1,100 extra tickets had been sold, taking the total well above the agreed capacity of 4,250. The SFL promised a swift investigation and its board of management met last night, along with Elgin representatives Martyn Hunter and Ian Clark.

They went over documentation put together by the SFL’s events manager Anton Fagan and the board agreed to hand out a financial punishment rather than deduct points.

An SFL statement said: “The SFL board met to review the circumstances leading up to the postponement of the Elgin City v Rangers Third Division game.

“As a result of this detailed

review, the board of the SFL have found Elgin City to have breached Rule 98.4 (Failure to fulfil Fixture Obligations) and Rule 44.5 (Conduct contrary to the interests of the League and its members and which is potentially likely to prejudice the orderly progress of the League Championship) of the organisation’s Constitution and Rules.”

The statement added: “The club have been ordered to pay a fine of £25,000 to the SFL, £5,000 of which will be donated to a charity chosen by Rangers.

“Elgin City FC have also been ordered to pay compensation to Rangers FC of an amount no less than the actual costs incurred by that club in the preparation and planning of this match, these expenses to be satisfactorily vouched to the board of the SFL.”

Elgin manager Ross Jack said: “Obviously it is a blow for the club to be hit with a fine but other sanctions such as a points deduction could have been worse.”